Did the United States suddenly turn socialist or Stalinist when Obama became President?

Suddenly? No

This has been a long, slow and deliberate process. But BO hit the accelerator when he took office. If you're looking for a reason as to why "all of a sudden in 2008 this just exploded" that's it.

We had been steadily heading down that path for years. And I don't know when exactly it started, but let's say with the New Deal Programs for the sake of argument. But the difference between heading downhill (and a statist government is downhill for the US) at a methodical pace is entirely different from sliding uncontrollably down the face of a snow covered mountain on an out of control sled while wearing a blind fold. With big trees and a field of rocks at the bottom. And it is that sudden, radical (pun intended) change in pace that upset most people.

BO overplayed his hand. His narcissism led him to believe that HE and HE alone was the one to lead this country to his utopian salvation. Even liberals should be ticked off at this guy. His recklessness will probably set back the statist movement for decades. At least. So in that respect I suppose we should thank BO for exposing the path we were on and allowing us the opportunity to get this country back on the right path.

See? Conservatives can find some value in BO's presidency.

The progressive movement actually started under Wilson he started the progressive tax system. From there FDR advanced the progressive movement with Social Security.

It stayed fairly steady I believe until the 1970's then it really started to pick up movement. The Socialist movement has been very long and "slow" but has been gaining momentum since the 1970's or so with a few bumps a long the way Regan being one of the bumps.

The USA is not a Capitalist state. We've got way to many bureaucracies that create regulations, ban products, require businesses to buy certain types of equipment and put fees (another word for taxes) on things. They do this with out giving any representation to any of the Industries they effect what little representation they do give is done by them and their friends. It's a very corrupt system that rules with Iron fist.

You see Capitalism is about free markets and the choice to produce what you want and how you want too. The Government also gives tax credits favoring certain types of products or items. That is not capitalist in a capitalist society the public would not be enticed to buy something via a tax credit or rebate.

Things that are not part of capitalism

Social Security

Medicare

Unemployment

Disability

And so on.

The old "but what about what Bush did" argument is getting old, just like the name calling. The growth of government definitely BEGAN back in the 1930's when a socialism was even "accepted" as a political party (note that a different socialist party candidate ran for POTUS from 1903 to 1932, look it up!) and has grown gradually ever since; every administration since FDR has added to both the national debt and the size in government! When our government is "centralized" and taken away from the local levels and sent "far away", the People have a harder time "petitioning for redressing grievances" IAW the 1st Amendment! The growth in government and it's social market principles is like slowly filling up a glass with water: no one "notices" until water starts pouring over the brim! To ask us "where were we then?" is to ignore the question of "where are you NOW?" if we can both agree the size of government and the money that "flows within" is the inherent problem in Washington! To deny the existence of "socialistic methods" being implemented today simply because it is a (D) that is doing it is to deny that this gradualism is taking place to the detriment of ALL.

As near as I've been able to guesstimate, the GOP would have us all return to the "Ozzie and Harriet" myths of the 1950s.

As to the "socialist" rant so often heard from the Republicans who want to lambast our first black (and white, too, they forget) president, Barack Obama, I often wonder if any of these ranters against socialism realize to what extent they and their families rely on socialist programs which are prevalent in this nation, the U.S. being a yin-yang balance between socialism and capitalism. Some of these include, but are not limited to, the following: the U.S. Post Office, police and firefighters, highways and roadways, mass transit, public schools and colleges, our military, the courts, bridges and tunnels, national parks, libraries, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the VA medical system, the FDA (food and pharmaceutical safety standards), FAA (airline safety standards), OSHA (safety standards for the workplace), and so on.

The 1300 greed-driven for-profit insurance companies that existed before the Affordable Care Act of 2009 STILL EXIST...not socialist at all, but they are now prevented from being abusive. The fatcat greedy-gut-run banking systems and Wall Street have to PAY US BACK for those Bush/Bernanke/Paulson TARP-fund bailouts---still capitalism at work, but this time with some GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT that protects the American people and the nation's economy. For the past ten months now, PRIVATE-SECTOR JOBS have been created by new alternative-energy for-profit companies that got their start because of the President's "stimulus" (Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009) dollars (see recovery.gov). Republicans want a very unAmerican and unrealistic "ALL CAPITALISM ALL THE TIME" with no checks and balances, no consumer-protecting regulations, no oversight, no "public option" cost control measures...and they also want to CRAM their pentecostal fundamentalism down everyone else's throats (no pun intended) in violation of our Constitution. I say let's KEEP THE DEMOCRATS!

No they didn't like the way the GOV was being ran Blaming Bush when the Liberal Had the House and Senate since 2006 .If Bo and the Democratic Party were doing so good as some say than Y are they being flushed down the craper today??

Did the United States suddenly turn National Socialist when Bush became president?

No, the beauty of American government is that we have bits and pieces of many different types of governments. We're part democratic, part republican (I mean the philosophies, not the parties), part socialist, part communist, all sorts of styles wrapped into one. We take the best of the best and make the best of the best.

No, but we started down the wrong path economically In 1862,Congress enacted the nation's first income tax law. After that the federal government just kept growing....

You really seem intent on displaying the intense hatred and bigotry on the right. You have what facts to support your ignorance?

You are pitiful.

Hey, Joe's post. Not mine.

Yes, Newsweek magazine even said so on their cover. "We are all Socialists now".